The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday began distribution for this year’s phase of a $1 billion, five-year grant to rehabilitate publicly owned natural gas pipelines, it said, announcing 196 million dollars for 19 states.
The city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, will receive $10 million as the first recipient among “more than 20 communities,” the department said in a news release, without naming the other recipients.
“This funding to modernize our pipelines will help protect residents from dangerous leaks, create good-paying jobs and reduce methane emissions in communities across the country, especially in rural and underserved areas,” the secretary said of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who will visit Las Cruces to present his award.
“Investments in pipeline safety are investments in the safety of the community and our shared environment,” said Tristan Brown, deputy administrator of the department’s Hazardous Materials and Pipeline Safety Administration.
The announcement was part of President Joe Biden’s “Invest in America” tour, a three-week expedition to more than 20 states that began last week. The tour aims to highlight how the administration is growing the US economy through a “middle-out, bottom-up” approach, a White House briefing on March 24 said. Among the agenda are the investments listed in the American Rescue Plan, CHIPS and Science. the Inflation Reduction Law and the Investment in Infrastructure and Employment Law.
The grants announced Wednesday are under the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Security and Modernization (NGDISM) Grant Program of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. They cover nearly 270 miles of pipeline, the Department of Transportation said in Wednesday’s announcement.
Grants totaling $1 billion from 2021 to 2026 “will be available to a municipality or community-owned utility (excluding for-profit entities) to repair, rehabilitate or replace its natural gas distribution pipelines or parts thereof or to acquire equipment to (1) reduce incidents and fatalities and (2) avoid economic loss,” the legislation states.
Pipeline improvements under the grants are also expected to reduce methane emissions by about 212 metric tons annually, the Department of Transportation said.
The grants are also expected to employ hundreds of people in both rural and urban locations, according to the release.
The next batch of the NGDISM grant, worth $392, is expected to be released next month, he added.
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